In the game of baseball the development of batting skills is an integral part, of the training regime for players. There are several different types of baseball training devices for developing batting skills. One type employs an automated ball thrower spaced from the batter that projects baseballs in the direction of the batter. Other types include a ball tethered at one end of a string or rope with the other end of the rope secured to a mechanism intended to move the ball to simulate pitching. U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,679 discloses such a device wherein water propulsion is used to propel the tethered ball in a circle. This device is messy due to water accumulating in addition to which the spray will disrupt the batter's concentration. U.S. Pat. No. 2,017,720 discloses a batting practise device having rotatable member at an obtuse angle which can be swivelled in a horizontal plane.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,781 discloses a tethered pitching device comprising a vertical upright attached at the bottom thereof to ground penetrating teeth. A pitcher pitches the ball and when hit by a batter the ball is constrained by the tethering. U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,198 discloses a batting practise device comprising a ball tethered to one end of a chord and the other end to one end of an elastic chord. The other end of the elastic chord is secured to a ground penetrating stake. A pitcher pulls on the ball to develop tension so that when the ball is released it is projected toward the batter. A drawback to these devices is the need for a pitcher to be present.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,397,885 discloses a training device with a ball tethered to an L-shaped supporting structure having a vertical stake which is driven into the ground. The ball is releasably attached to a chord using by means of a magnetic coupling so that when the ball is hit it is decoupled from the L-shaped supporting structure. U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,459 discloses a ball batting game comprising a tethered ball held at the end of a chord with the other end of the chord slidably attached to a flexible transverse cable suspended between two posts. When the ball is hit it travels along the horizontal cable between the posts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,612 discloses an apparatus for practising and teaching ball batting comprising a ball tethered to one end of a cable with the other end attached to a rotary member mounted on a shaft. The shaft is secured to a vertical post which is cemented into the ground.
A drawback to many of the foregoing devices is that very high torques are imparted to the support structure by the batter hitting the ball. Consequently, the stakes used to anchor the devices to the ground tend to pull up with the result that the devices must be constantly re-anchored into the ground or permanently cemented into the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,301,556 discloses a ball holding device for batting practise comprising a ball tethered to one end of a long rope with the other end of the rope anchored to the ground. The tethered ball is supported on a supporting frame anchored into the ground. Every time the ball is hit it must be retrieved and the ball remounted on the support frame.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a baseball batting training device which is both portable and which can be securely anchored to the ground in which torque generated by hitting the tethered ball are damped rather than transmitted to the ground anchor.